not to want 8 pots to wash up after tea for 2?

OH yes!! I have one like that. he made a curry today, and like yourself its good that he cooks, but oh my goodness a sink full of pans bowls plates and every knife in the house.

My ex husband was inordinately proud of his homemade tomato soup.Problem was, he seemed to think he was a TV chef, and before starting he would weigh/ measure every ingredient into ramekins, saucers etc.

The current Mr P is better in many ways, in that he cooks and sometimes washes up as he goes.

I was brought breakfast in bed on Sunday, bacon and eggs. However I am still at a loss to understand how the kitchen can look that bad after cooking something with only 2 ingredients!

Perhaps you could train him to load the dishwasher Lynda

Glad to hear I'm not alone. Oh jane I would happily chuck the pots in the dishwasher but he won't hear of it. Says it ruins them Of course, this doesn't stop me doing it when he's not around...

It must be a man thing. I use one knife and wipe it if I need to use it for something different, he gets another one out. What really annoys me is that if he wants a pan at the bottom of the pan drawer he gets all the ones above out and leaves them with the dirty washing up, so I wash them even though they have not been used.
The food is yummy though and I can spend more time on Gransnet while he cooks

My OH does tea aswell but I clean as I go but he leaves every thing out tI tidy and wash up before I sit down as do not want to start after tea I have just 2 plates knife and forks and tea cups but must not grumble as tea is ready if I have been out

My DH doesn't cook but is great at clearing up after me. I can leave the kitchen in a real mess after cooking or baking and come in half an hour later it's all been washed, dried and put away. I always say I have 2 dishwashers, one mechanical the other with two legs!! I hate washing up.

I am the one to wash up after herself has cooked and I'm thinking she gets dishes from next door as well as ours.

As I am usually chief cook AND bottle washer I tend to use as few items as possible.

My ex was just like that,*Lynda*. Curry for two and washing up for a week! Our two sons have not inherited this characteristic - aren't their partners lucky!

My DDH is a fantastic washer upper - kitchen is always spotless when he has washed up. He, on the other hand looks as though he has swum the channel. His sleeves are wet to the elbows, front of shirt/jumper too and he appears as though he is incontinent. He never takes his watch off or rolls up his sleeves. Complains that his hand are dry through all the washing up but will not wear marigolds. I have offered to wash up if he cooks but he says he can't cook. I remind him that when I was invalided after kidney op he managed to prepare meals for 6 weeks or so. He has selective memory loss. Love him to bits though and he has other qualities, many . and he does a mean boiled egg.

When I cook a roast dinner, I parboil the potatoes, take them out, parboil the parsnips in the same water, take them out, cook the carrots in the same water, take them out, use that water for the gravy, put fresh water in same saucepan for the greens. I only started doing that a couple of years ago, don't know why it took me so long to think of it.
My OH is a good cook but he uses a lot of utensils. However, I don't mind clearing up after him because I LOVE being cooked for!

I wreck the kitchen even when making a cheese sandwich .

My SiL made a Chinese dish last time he was here which was delicious but the kitchen !!!! I didn't realise that I had so much equipment and I swear he had used everything available.

My OH is a very tidy cook, and complains bitterly about the state I get the kitchen into. We can't all be perfect!!!!